Gwyneth Paltrow’s office is surprisingly simple. Tucked in a corner of Goop’s sun-drenched new Santa Monica, California, offices, the glass-walled room is minimally decorated—a large slate desk, an angular bookshelf, a dark wooden bench—and completely free of clutter. It’s a confident, stylish space, but nothing hints at the star power of its occupant. And clearly, that’s the way Paltrow likes it. Rather than drawing attention to herself, she’s using her considerable talent, charisma and energy to lead her company forward.
“I love doing this,” Paltrow says. She’s perched in a sleek office chair, chin propped in hands, eager to share the reasons she first made the leap from Hollywood A-lister to her current role as Goop’s founder and chief creative officer, and why it all still adds up for her. “It’s using different muscles,” she says, “which I really enjoy.”
Paltrow’s vibe on this cloudless SoCal day is one of relaxed concentration. Her thick blonde hair is pulled back into an easy bun; her slouchy off-the-shoulder shirt just hints at that famously chiseled figure. When she stretches her long legs under the desk, strappy sandals peep out from beneath her wide-legged jeans. But as she begins to check off her long list of daily to-dos, Paltrow quickly turns focused and serious.
“I’m responsible for every photo, every piece of content, all the product that we’re making,” she explains. “I do all the creative. But I’m also involved in the business side and the strategy. It’s challenging!” She takes a deep breath, spinning one of several delicate gold rings on her fingers. Her blue eyes are glowing with happiness.
Paltrow’s satisfaction stems from the fact that she’s been able to build her company while staying, as she puts it, “really authentic and true to who we are.” If Goop’s road to success hadn’t had its uphill moments, she might not enjoy the present quite as much. “I’m always looking to be challenged in an area where it feels scary,” she reflects. “That’s what makes it fun for me.”
If Paltrow has given her all to Goop, it’s because she’s passionate about making the company a place that reflects her values—a place where women like her will want to work. Although Goop does employ men—“we have two!” Paltrow jokes—the staff is largely made up of women. “I’d like to have more men, but I do love working with women,” she says. “And I love working with mothers. Mothers take care of business!”
For Paltrow, getting things done goes hand in hand with hiring, supporting and acknowledging the hard work of her talented team. As she shows off the company’s offices, she introduces every coworker she encounters by name—from Lisa Gersh, the former head of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia who is now Goop’s CEO, to Rebecca Druker, Goop’s intern.
That kind of attention to detail has made Paltrow successful at just about everything she’s done, starting with winning an Oscar at age 26 for her role in 1998’s Shakespeare in Love. In 2008, she launched Goop, which started as a weekly newsletter; it’s since grown into a lifestyle and e-commerce site that recently received $10 million in funding for growth and expansion. Earlier this year, she launched the company’s first branded products, Goop by Juice Beauty, a luxe organic skin-care line.
And she just released her fourth cookbook, It’s All Easy, a sure-to-be-best-selling collection of quick meals for people—women especially—whose busy lives make it hard to slow down long enough to prep delicious, healthy food at home.
Unsurprisingly, busy-ness is a theme that’s close to her heart. Like many women, Paltrow says she struggles with relaxing. “I have yet to meet someone who isn’t burdened with hyperresponsibility. Everyone is suffering from this sense of ‘I have to do it all and I have to do it perfectly,’” she says. “It’s all my friends, all my colleagues: We try to do everything to such a high standard. And I’m like, Where did we get this from? Because I’m f—ing exhausted!”
Paltrow is a believer in the importance of balance; after all, what is Goop about if not taking a minute to appreciate the well-lived life? Accordingly, she sings the praises of her fitness routine: For the past 10 years, she’s been working out with trainer Tracy Anderson, owner and founder of the fitness studio chain. And she tries to take other opportunities for downtime when she can, even if it’s just blocking out time for a massage,which she happened to do this very morning. “At first I was lying there, like, What am I not doing? What am I not doing?” Paltrow says, laughing. “But then I thought, Can you take one hour? It’s not like you’re doing this every day. So I really let everything go. And after, I thought, I wish I could get to this place every day, at least for a little while.”
Getting to that place comes to Paltrow most naturally when she’s with her children: Apple, who turns 12 this month, and 10-year-old Moses. The previous weekend, the trio road-tripped to Santa Barbara, where they hit the zoo and went indoor rock climbing, then drove home to snuggle and watch the Grammys in bed. It was a full weekend, but times like these recharge and invigorate Paltrow. “My daughter has the most beautiful feminine energy, and it’s cool to be around that,” she says, her voice softening. “It keeps me in the spirit of youth and growth.”
With that in mind, Paltrow works hard to carve out quality time with her children, knowing that sometimes the little things matter most. “If I make my kids something delicious and we sit down to eat it, and I put my phone away and I really listen, that is such money in the bank,” she says.
Balancing a career with motherhood, friend time and everything else isn’t easy for anyone, but it’s a juggling act Paltrow has come to relish, especially at this point in her life. “It’s a fantastic age,” she says, of being 43. “You can still find yourself at a party at 3 a.m., but you also know enough about who you are and how that informs the choices you make. It’s like, I’m good! I’m not going to strive to be anyone else or please anybody else.”
Along with Paltrow’s deeper sense of personal acceptance has come an increased willingness to speak her mind. “We have this idea that you can’t be a mother and a businesswoman and like to have sex!” she says, both genuine and amused. “How is an intelligent woman a sexual being? It’s really hard to integrate those things.” She pauses, then shrugs. “Like, ‘Gwyneth has sex? Really?’ It doesn’t seem to go together. But I think it’s important, as mothers and as women contributing to society in whatever way we each are, that our true sexuality doesn’t get lost or put aside.”
Paltrow has more to say on the topic, but before she can continue, her assistant, Kevin Keating, slips in to hand her an iced matcha latte—almond milk, sans sweetener—and to gently remind her about her next meeting. “He’s my taskmaster,” she says, smiling at him. She takes a sip, then gestures broadly, encompassing both herself and her colleagues. “I think women here would tell you that the work-life balance is pretty good. We want to enjoy life. But there’s a lot to do!” she says. “We’re all awake to the fact that we really can achieve what we set out to achieve.”
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